Anan Ameri (born 1944) is an Arab American museum director.

Anan Ameri
Born1944 (age 79–80)
Damascus
OccupationMuseum director
NationalityAmerican
Notable awards
The Detroit News Michiganian of the Year
2005

Michigan Women's Hall of Fame
2016
ACCESS Arab American of the Year
2020

Biography

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Anan Ameri was born in 1944 to a Palestinian father and Syrian mother.[1] She grew up in Damascus, Syria, and Amman, Jordan. In 1951, when she was six, her family permanently left their home in Jerusalem and settled in Jordan. Her mother ran a print shop in Amman while her father was Jordan’s foreign minister and the ambassador to Egypt. Ameri got a bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Jordan. She then attended Cairo University where she graduated with a master's degree before moving to the US and completing her sociology PhD at Wayne State University in 1974. Ameri also spent a year on a fellowship at Harvard. Ameri became politically active while at school attending her first rally aged about 11. She worked with both the Palestine Research Center in Beirut, and founded the Palestinian Aid Society of America, of which she was the director from 1980 to 1993.[2][3][4][5]

Ameri moved to Detroit for her first husband. Then in 1989 she moved to Washington, D.C. Her second husband enticed her back to Detroit with a position as director of the cultural arts program in ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services). Her work led to the creation of Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum. Ameri has been the museum director and went on to write. She has won a Palestine Book Award. Ameri was named the 2005 Michiganian of the Year by The Detroit News. She has since been inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame[6] and has also been named the ACCESS 2020 Arab American of the Year.[3][7][4][5][8]

Bibliography

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  • The Scent of Jasmine, May 2017
  • Arab American Encyclopedia 2000, editor
  • The Wandering Palestinian, November 2020

Sources

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  1. ^ Gomaa, Dalia (August 31, 2022). "Anan Ameri, Life and Community". Against the Current. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  2. ^ Hodges, Michael H. (April 25, 2017). "Arab American museum's Ameri recalls childhood in book". The Detroit News.
  3. ^ a b Hodges, Michael H. (October 18, 2016). "Michigan Women's Hall of Fame to induct Dr. Anan Ameri". The Detroit News.
  4. ^ a b "Dearborn museum's founding director named Arab American of the Year". Detroit Free Press. Associated Press. February 15, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Afana, Dana (March 6, 2020). "Ann Arbor-based activist named Arab American of the Year". mlive.
  6. ^ "Dr. Anan Ameri". Michigan Women Forward. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  7. ^ "Anan Ameri". Palestine Book Awards.
  8. ^ "The Detroit News' Michiganians of the Year since 1978". The Detroit News. June 21, 2018.